Palm Tips and Shortcuts

You bought your Palm OS device to organize your life. Now that you have one, make the most of it. Palm aficionado Jeff Carlson has gathered some of his favorite tips and shortcuts. Follow them, and you’ll save yourself even more time and headaches.

YOU BOUGHT YOUR PALM OS DEVICE to make your life simpler
and more organized, right? Now that you have one, make the most of it. Palm
aficianado Jeff Carlson has gathered a dozen or so of his favorite—and
road-tested—tips and shortcuts. Follow them, and you’ll save yourself
even more time and headaches.

LET THERE BE (BACK)LIGHT

If you don’t like the new method of backlighting (in which the screen
is inverted), you can specify that the inactive pixels, not the active pixels,
are illuminated when you turn backlighting on. Go to the Memo Pad, create a
new record, then write the shortcut stroke (like a cursive L), a period (two
taps), then the number 8. You should see the words “[Inverting Backlight]”
which reverses the backlighting effect. Repeat the steps to return to the default
backlighting style.

REASSIGN THE CONTRAST BUTTON

The new screens used in the Palm V and later models require only sporadic
contrast adjustment. To put the Palm V’s contrast button to better use,
install Palm V Contrast Button App Hack (www.synsolutions.com/).
You can then program the button to launch any application.

TAKE CHARGE OF BATTERY TYPES

If you’re using different battery types (Alkaline/NiCad/Rechargeable
Alkaline/NiMH), write the following in a text field (such as the Memo Pad) to
toggle between more accurate battery gauges: shortcut stroke (like a cursive
L), dot, 7.

CONSERVE BATTERY ENERGY

In the Palm Preferences, leaving the Beam Receive option on can drain your
battery at a higher rate than normal. However, returning to the Prefs application
to turn the option on each time you wish to receive something can be a pain.
Instead, write shortcut stroke, dot, i in any text field, which will
turn on Beam Receive for a single instance.

The other option is to press and hold the plastic Address Book button as if
you were going to beam your business card. After you beam your information (or
tap Cancel), you’ll be asked if you want to turn Beam Receive on.